The Top 10 Songs of 1977 in the UK

The UK's Top 10 Best Selling Songs of 1977

The UK's Top 10 best selling songs of 1977 certainly made for strange companions considering the music that was on offer during this particular year.

You probably could not create a list of ten songs as diverse as those that captured the attention of the record buying public during 1977. Who would have thought that Elvis Presley, Brotherhood of Man and Hot Chocolate could end up appearing on the same countdown? But, that is exactly what happened.

Note that these songs have not been picked as my favourites of this year, but to show which records sold the most during 1977.

Number One

Paul McCartney & Wings: Mull of Kintyre

Accumulating a staggering nine weeks at Number 1, Paul McCartney and Wings' Mull of Kintyre has since sold enough copies to rank as the UK's best selling (non-charity) single of all time.

It benefitted from its December release date, as the disc found its way into many people's Christmas stockings in 1977, but was sufficiently popular to stick around at the top of the British charts until the end of January, 1978.

However, despite selling two million records in the UK and riding high on music charts around the world, American buyers were not so impressed. Instead its flipside, Girls' School, garnered more popularity, but still only managed a lowly placing on the Top 40 there.

Number Two

David Soul: Don't Give Up On Us

Better known at the time as Ken Hutchinson in the American cop television series Starsky and Hutch, David Soul took advantage of his popularity and recorded a few songs which saw him enjoying success in both the British and American music charts.

Don't Give Up On Us was the first of these, which spent four weeks at Number 1 in the UK at the beginning of 1977 and a single week atop the Billboard Hot 100 a couple of months later.

While he never again appeared in the US Top 40, he would return to the upper reaches of the British chart on several more occasions.

Number Three

Julie Covington: Don't Cry For Me, Argentina

Another song that has sold over a million copies in the UK is this Julie Covington classic taken from the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice stage musical, Evita.

Although later associated with Elaine Paige in the UK and Patti LuPone in the US, it was Covington who first played the role of Eva Perón on the original album release of Evita. She later declined to reprise the part on the London stage.

Apart from Don't Cry For Me, Argentina, Julie Covington would also see UK chart action with Alice Cooper's Only Women Bleed and with the song OK? as part of the Rock Follies troupe.

Number Four

Leo Sayer: When I Need You

Following five UK Top 10 hits, three of which peaked at Number 2, Leo Sayer finally managed to capture the Number 1 spot.

He did it for three weeks in February and March, 1977 with this ballad, When I Need You.

Number Seven

Donna Summer: I Feel Love

One of the most influential disco tracks ever landed in the Top 10 songs of 1977 at Number 7, having spent four weeks as the nation's Number 1: I Feel Love by Donna Summer.

It was one of the first commercially successful records to feature a backing track of entirely electronic music and has been cited as the song that shaped the evolution of the techno music movement.

Commercially, it has now sold over a million copies in the UK, featured in global music charts and returned Donna Summer to the Top 10 in America for the first time in two years.

Number Eight

Elvis Presley: Way Down

Way Down was Elvis Presley's final single release before his death on August 16, 1977 and, at any other time, would probably have come and gone without much fuss.

As it was, the single raced into the British charts, claiming the Number 1 spot at the beginning of September and remained there for five weeks.

Number Nine

Hot Chocolate: So You Win Again

Although Hot Chocolate had been scoring Top 40 hits in the UK since 1970, it was not until the release of So You Win Again that they managed to enjoy a Number 1 song.

Unfortunately, history shows that it would also prove to be their only one to do so.

Number Ten

Brotherhood of Man: Angelo

Scoring their second of three Number 1 songs was probably one of the most irritating hits of 1977, Angelo by the Brotherhood of Man.

Their first chart topper had been Save Your Kisses For Me, and they followed in the footsteps of their Eurovision-winning compatriots ABBA with this track that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Swede's Fernando.

Nevertheless, Angelo impressed enough listeners across Europe to place it in various national charts.